HEW News Release

This news release from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services) announced the start of a national hypertension awareness initiative, later named the National High Blood Pressure Education Program, which would promote education, screening, and treatment of the disease. Impressed by the VA hypertension study, Mary Lasker and others had prevailed upon HEW Secretary Elliot Richardson to begin such an effort.